Articles tagged "angelina jolie"

Film DVD Review

Confessions of an Action Star

by Jake Meaney

[21.Apr.09] :. Painfully unclever, aggressively unfunny, and occasionally unsubtly racist.

Recent DVD reviews

Decade-Dense: The 60 Most Memorable Films of 1999 Feature

Part 5: Toy Story 2 to Titus (November - December 1999)

by PopMatters Staff

[27.Mar.09] :. On this final day of PopMatters' 1999 overview, awards season hype gives way to pure acting prowess and definitive directorial flair.

Decade-Dense: The 60 Most Memorable Films of 1999

Film DVD Review

Changeling

by Stephen Snart

[19.Feb.09] :. There’s a touch of Arthur Miller in the way the audiences emotions are played in this story of challenging authority.

Recent DVD reviews

Film Feature

Superheroes Versus Comics

by shathley Q

[27.Jan.09] :. There can be no doubt that the summer of 2008 stands as a high-water mark for superheroes. But in the wake of a superhero renaissance and the growing cultural legitimacy of the genre, the question must be posed: Has the superhero genre evolved beyond the comics medium?

Recent features

PopMatters Picks: The Best TV, Film, and DVD of 2008 Feature

The New Classics - The 30 Best Films of 2008

by PopMatters Staff

[16.Jan.09] :. Unlike previous years, where classics came crawling out of the celluloid woodwork with regular reckless abandon, 2008 was more calm… and considered. That's not to say that choosing 30 top titles was hard. The difficulty in placing them in some manner of rank order suggests the actual depth of quality involved.

PopMatters Picks: The Best TV, Film, and DVD of 2008

PopMatters Picks: The Best TV, Film, and DVD of 2008 Feature

Tough and Tender - The Top 20 Female Performances of 2008

by PopMatters Staff

[14.Jan.09] :. Twenty talented ladies, 20 performances worthy of multiple little gold men. Unfortunately, as in all years, someone has to come out on top. But after looking over this impressive list, picking the preeminent turn of 2008 seems almost impossible.

PopMatters Picks: The Best TV, Film, and DVD of 2008

Narrative Choices Challenge ‘Changeling’s Effectiveness

by Bill Gibron

[30.Oct.08] :. The Clint Eastwood renaissance has been a joy to behold. While many thought his 1992 Oscar for Unforgiven would mark the culmination of an amazing, four decade long career, the new millennium...

Changeling

by Cynthia Fuchs

[24.Oct.08] :. A movie made with awards season in mind, Changeling offers extravagant affects and overwritten speeches.

Identities in Flux

by Chris Barsanti

[24.Oct.08] :. Kaufman’s Synecdoche, New York is performance art as civilization-annihilating Godzilla, whereas Eastwood's Changeling is a film that wins the stranger than fiction category, hands-down.

Talk, Talk, Talk: October 2008

by Bill Gibron

[10.Sep.08] :. What studio suit thought this was a good idea? With four months to schedule your high priced efforts, you instead unload almost 30 overpriced pictures on an unsuspecting movie audience.

Angelina Jolie’s ‘Wanted’ beats box office records in three countries

by RIA Novosti [(MCT)]

[30.Jun.08] :. “Wanted,” an American studio movie directed by Russia’s Timur Bekmambetov and starring Angelina Jolie, beat box office records at its worldwide premiere, Universal Pictures said on...

Wanted

by Cynthia Fuchs

[27.Jun.08] :. Angelina Jolie has evolved. As of Wanted, she is no longer merely mortal, but her own sublime creature.

Angelina Jolie has a killer role in ‘Wanted’

by John Anderson [Newsday (MCT)]

[25.Jun.08] :. Some things about the summer movie season are as predictable as ... well, the summer movie season. There will always be movies based on comic books - like “Wanted.” There will always be...

Kung Fu Panda

by Cynthia Fuchs

[6.Jun.08] :. Big and bouncy, Kung Fu Panda is another powerhouse Family Entertainment that means to pummel its young viewers into adulation.

‘Panda’ Stays True to Its Kung Fu Confines

by Bill Gibron

[5.Jun.08] :. It’s been interesting to watch the youth-ification of martial arts. Sure, kids have always been the major market when it comes to karate lessons, video games, and other media oriented kung...

The Return of the Popcorn Circus: June 2008

by Bill Gibron

[29.Apr.08] :. If May almost tent-poled itself out of existence, June will be even worse. After all, are audiences really ready for 13 major release in less than two months -- with more to come?

Beowulf (2007)

by Jarrett Berman

[3.Mar.08] :. Crawling with mermaids and monsters, irony, and gore, Beowulf delivers the goods, without betraying its core narrative.

Super Duper Bad: The Worst Films of 2007

by PopMatters Staff

[11.Jan.08] :. From Good Luck Chuck to Julie Taymor's ill-advised Beatlesque '60s tribute Across the Universe, PopMatters presents the dreck of 2007.

‘Beowulf’ screenwriter says don’t expect `300’ in Viking horns

by Colin Covert [Star Tribune (Minneapolis) (MCT)]

[16.Nov.07] :. BEVERLY HILLS, Calif.—Fantasy author Neil Gaiman automatically turns down offers to rewrite others’ work for the screen, but in the case of “Beowulf,” whose 8th-century author...

Beowulf

by Cynthia Fuchs

[16.Nov.07] :. Beowulf is the model man, outrageous and arrogant, and so admired far and wide.

A Mighty Heart

by Stuart Henderson

[16.Nov.07] :. At last, all we have is the horror we began with. Pearl will be beheaded, for nothing, and the world gets a little darker.

Chasing Angelina: With a paparazzo in reckless pursuit of a celeb

by Helen Eckinger [Chicago Tribune (MCT)]

[24.Aug.07] :. CHICAGO—Tires screeching, we wheeled around the corner of Rush and Chicago, barely missing a pack of pedestrians. “Sorry folks—watch it!” the photographer yelled as he pounded...

Kidnapped journalist’s murder leads to Jolie film

by Bruce Dancis [McClatchy Newspapers (MCT)]

[14.Jun.07] :. SAN FRANCISCO—“I write this book for you, Danny, because you had the courage of this most solitary act: to die with your hands in chains but your heart undefeated. “I write this...

Monkey Business (Part 2: June)

by Bill Gibron

[2.May.07] :. Apparently, as the sun's strongest rays finally settle over the movie going public, sequels are the remedy to cool down an overheated demographic. This month alone holds five examples of such redux refreshment. The rest of the choices are a variety pack of genres, ideas and possibilities.

The Good Shepherd (2006)

by Cynthia Fuchs

[22.Dec.06] :. For Edward, the CIA forms a circular logic: members define the mission and vice versa.

Mr. & Mrs Smith: Unrated Collector’s Edition (2004)

by Whitney Strub

[5.Jun.06] :. Mr. & Mrs. Smith strips away the niceties of the classical narrative form to revel in pure spectacle, and to surprisingly pleasurable effect.

Mr. and Mrs. Smith (2005)

by Cynthia Fuchs

[29.Nov.05] :. John's casually precise athleticism and stuttering are oddly enchanting.

Alexander: Director’s Cut (2004)

by Cynthia Fuchs

[10.Aug.05] :. Oliver Stone calls his Alexander 'a new genre, a masculine-feminine action figure,' more like Monty Clift and James Dean than Russell Crowe.

Gone in 60 Seconds: Director’s Cut (2000)

by Jesse Hassenger

[8.Jul.05] :. The trailer for Gone is a particularly unpretentious distillation of the film's key elements.

Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005)

by Cynthia Fuchs

[10.Jun.05] :. More evocative of Fred Astaire than James Bond, John's killer athleticism reflects a general quickness of mind.

Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow (2004)

by Cynthia Fuchs

[26.Jan.05] :. Kevin Conran seems pleased to admit that he has never stepped foot inside Radio City Music Hall.

Alexander (2004)

by Cynthia Fuchs

[24.Nov.04] :. Though Olympias is unbeatably charismatic (and plain fun amid all the drearily inclined boys), the film takes a typically Stonian approach to the evil woman.

Shark Tale (2004)

by Cynthia Fuchs

[1.Oct.04] :. Oscar aspires to fame, wealth, and dates with beautiful women-fish.

Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow (2004)

by Cynthia Fuchs

[17.Sep.04] :. If the glorious surprise offered up by The Wizard of Oz was its depiction of a world beyond any material reality, the agreeable gimmick of Sky Captain is its imitation of what's come before.

Beyond Borders (2003)

by Cynthia Fuchs

[22.Mar.04] :. The truth is shifty throughout Beyond Borders, primarily because its fiction is filtered through Sarah's eyes.

Taking Lives (2004)

by Cynthia Fuchs

[18.Mar.04] :. In Taking Lives, the enigmatic Illeana (Angelina Jolie) is introduced indirectly.

Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life (2003)

by Cynthia Fuchs

[17.Nov.03] :. 'She's really pretty handy with knives and guns, this girl.'"

Beyond Borders (2003)

by Cynthia Fuchs

[23.Oct.03] :. The scene inspires Sarah to do a right thing, that is, leave her comfy urban environs for the deserts of Ethiopia.

Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life (2003)

by Cynthia Fuchs

[24.Jul.03] :. The focus on her irate face reveals Lara's resolve, fury, and urgency. She's not playing.

Life or Something Like It (2002)

by Cynthia Fuchs

[25.Apr.02] :. Most regrettably, Lanie's not a crazy chick at all.

Angelina Jolie by Kathleen Tracy

by Stephen Rauch

PULL.

Tomb Raider (2001)

by Cynthia Fuchs

This spectacular image of androgynous, self-stimulating sexual excess speaks directly to the wonder and threat of Lara Croft, so adept at masculine and feminine wiles, and every wile in between.

Tomb Raider (2001)

by Mike Ward

All this symbolism would be quite impressive, actually, if 'Tomb Raider' ever gave the slightest impression it knew where it was going with it or was eventually planning to use these symbols to say something coherent.

Original Sin (2001)

by Cynthia Fuchs

... expensive, tacky melodrama.

Gone in 60 Seconds (2000)

by Cynthia Fuchs

Contrary to its titular promise of speed speed speed, this latest Jerry Bruckheimer actioner takes pretty much forever to get to its wholly predictable and humdrum finale. Gone in 60 Seconds...

Girl, Interrupted (1999)

by Cynthia Fuchs

What is it that makes girls in trouble so interesting? Think about all the novels, memoirs, biographies, songs, movies of the week, TV shows, and movies that have investigated, spectacularized, and...

The Bone Collector (1999)

by Cynthia Fuchs

The Bone Collector assumes you know the drill, the serial-killer-movie drill. It gives you most everything you need to know during the first four minutes, half of which take up the credits sequence (the credits themselves are, of course, hyper-scratchy and slashy-looking, very post-Seven stylish).